Enewsletter

Notes
from Vegan Outreach

Perspective
on Adopt a College

Take a look at the numbers from the official
start of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College program
in fall 2003:

Total Booklets: 22,217

Total Schools: 63

Total Leafleters: 42

The top leafleter was Josh “The Hulk”
Balk (right), with 7 schools and 4,299 booklets.

Ten years later:

36 activists handed a booklet to more people
than ’03 Josh;

11 activists had distributions larger than
F03’s entire total;

5 activists leafleted at more than 63 schools.

And the total leafleters, well…nearly 8
times more! Spring 2013:

Total Booklets: 913,717

Total Schools: 964

Total Leafleters: 327

To our leafleters: Your efforts
in getting the word out, getting others active,
and helping maintain the wonderful partnerships
Vegan Outreach has with other local, regional,
and national groups are simply magnificent!

To our donors: This growth
has been driven by your increasing generosity.
Only because of your thoughtful support have
we been able to print and ship so many booklets,
and reach so many people!

From
“Your Daily Dose of Vegan Outreach!”
& Jack Norris RD Blogs

Review
of the Week

As
we write in A
Meaningful Life: “Those who are
successful in making the world a better place
are students of human nature.”

As noted throughout VO’s advocacy information,
and in The
Animal Activist’s Handbook, understanding
human psychology is key to making the biggest
difference for the animals. VO reviews studies
in psychology and sociology in order to create
the best tools for the animals.

Notes
from Our Members

Lots of good vibes
on this cold, windy day – Jennifer and I set
a new record at Nassau Community College, reaching
over 1,900 students. We met many vegetarians,
and 5–6 vegans! Had 18 students give their emails
to get a club on campus, and had great conversations / feedback. E.g., “This is just what I
needed – I was thinking of going vegetarian!”—Karen James, 4/23/13

It snowed at
Saginaw Valley State…Snow! April 24! Still,
great conversations. One guy said what we do
to animals is appalling, another asked what
he could do to make a difference. A student
told me how she was really happy to get the
Even If You Like Meat because she had
been vegetarian for a while, but recently started
eating meat. I mentioned to her that I have
many friends, myself included, who went veg
in the past, “failed,” and came back
to it with much success. She was very happy
to get a Guide!

Henry Ford Community
College is the best! Very receptive student
body – super interested, and saw tons of people
reading the lit. Lots of folks asking questions
and engaging with us. Karley [Bodis, below, left], Rachael [Murray, below, right], and I
reached more than 2,200 students and had a damn
good time doing it. Had too many discussions
to go through them all, but a few stand out:
Adam [left] stopped and
told me, “This is some serious stuff. It
really makes me think differently.” He
really enjoyed the part where we compare cats
and dogs to farm animals and seemed very convinced
that he should probably stop eating animals.
A student told
me that she just stopped eating meat. She said
with real conviction, “I just can’t do
it. I own a dog! How can I do that if I love
my dog?!”
Finally, Rachael
and I had a good convo with Susan [above], who I could
tell was holding back tears. She said repeatedly,
“I’m just so shocked,” and really
seemed touched by the pigs. “If I had known
about how they were treating animals, I would
never have been eating meat.”—John Oberg, 4/25/13

Nice conversations today while
leafleting Ryerson University with John Sakars.
One was with a young man who has been vegan
for a month [Tian, right]. I asked him what had prompted the
change and he said getting a Compassionate
Choices previously. He is interested in
learning how to eat better so was pleased to
get a Guide. I also met a woman who
is leaning towards vegetarian and now seems
interested in doing more.—Alex Greenwood, 4/26/13

At Oregon State, I
had a long and very good conversation with a
young woman who had tried going vegetarian but gave up. She got a Guide,
and we talked about ways to stay healthy and
make being veg easier. She now wants to try
again, and her goal this time is to go vegan.—Nettie Schwager, 4/26/13

Rachel and I had an epic day at
Cleveland State. Saw many, many reading cover-to-cover and met lots of folks with questions.
We met Sara [below, center], who now wants to go vegan. We met
Karima [below, left], who wants to go veg. Talked with Sarah [Hernan, below, right],
who I invited to leaflet. She helped out after
class until we ran out of booklets. She loved
leafleting, especially after getting the Nietzsche
breakdown – a person who has a why can bear
any how – and wants to leaflet in the future.—Vic Sjodin, 4/25/13

Quick trip to IUPUI, where
I had a conversation with a lady who has been
veg for 25 years, who was really concerned with
her 4-year-old son’s diet. I gave her a Guide
and told her about all of VO’s
nutrition information, so she’ll find ways
to have her son follow a healthy diet.—Tonja Robertson, 4/25/13

Highlight of the day at
the University of California, Santa Barbara was
meeting Andrew, who joined me to leaflet. He’s
a natural and is going to check out Adopt a
College!
The highlight
of tabling at Pomona College was meeting Diana [left],
who has been vegetarian ever since getting a
VO booklet previously. We had a nice chat, and
I gave her a Guide.—Steve Erlsten, 4/25/13

Kimberly, Matt, and I had a great
time tabling for Earth Day at
Pioneer Valley High. A few favorite interactions:
After chatting
with a student about the animal ag industry,
she said, “I don’t think I can eat my lunch
now.” She left with literature and a new
attitude about what / who is on her plate.
Another student
hid behind her friend as he asked us questions.
At one point she started walking away saying,
“I shouldn’t be at this table” because
she was carrying a basket of chickens’ flesh
and tater tots. I told her she’s exactly the
type of person we like to come to our table,
we all used to eat animals too. Then I pointed
out that tater tots are vegan. She smiled and
seemed surprised about that.
A former vegan
said she felt so alone in her veganism, but
she now wants to go back to being vegan. She
and her friend [right] were so elated to see our booth
at their school. Both took vegan pins and put
them on their backpacks immediately. They said
they want to do outreach for animals too, so
I told them a bit about leafleting and gave
them each an AML.
While I was leafleting
at Allan Hancock College, one student stopped
in his tracks when he saw the Compassionate
Choices and said, “Oh, this one…we
analyzed this booklet in English class.”—Barbara Bear, 4/22/13

Very
busy day. At Central Piedmont
Community College, gave a Guide to
a former vegan who was very happy to get the
information. Then, leafleting with Philip, we
had great conversations, including one with
a woman who said the booklets will help her
go vegan. Additional discussions with folks
who wanted to reduce their meat consumption.
Also met several vegetarians who were thrilled
that I was leafleting.
At Clemson today,
students were more receptive than during previous
visits; I reached over 1,200 students. Highlight
was meeting a woman who had been contemplating
going vegan, and the booklets solidified her
decision.—Dawn Ratcliffe, 4/25/13

This
was FAST’s first advocacy bike trip. We
traveled to Madison and Milwaukee via bike and
sometimes truck (due to high winds and harsh
weather conditions).
Day 1 was very
successful at UW Madison, reaching over 2,000
students. We heard from a student who had gone
veg from a VO booklet she received on campus
about a month ago! After UW Madison, we split
up and leafleted two local high schools. It
was amazing; everyone was eager to get a leaflet
and was sincerely interested in the content.
Kevin heard from a student who had recently
gone vegan and asked for a few more to give
to her friends, to help them go veg!
Day 4 started
out at UW Milwaukee, and ended with two local
high schools. UW Milwaukee was great. John had
an amazing interaction with a student that started
off negatively; then after 15 minutes of talking
with him, he said that he would try Meat Free
Monday! Jamie had a woman tell her that she
had decided to become vegetarian on the spot,
as a result of our having given her a Compassionate
Choices!—Rachel Shippee, 4/19/13

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.